Auberoth
See also: Cascadia Auberoth is the term used by the Auber to describe the province of Cascadia, of which they have near-total control. Auberoth also refers to the government, societal structure, and cultural sphere insulated by the imperial system of the Auber that live in Cascadia. The province excludes White Harbor and some plateaus overlooking Red Cape Bay and its capitol of Il-Gorgoth. Auberoth is also in constant flux, based on advancement or retraction of Arcadian tribes. Though originally a colony of Vostok Manda, Shargaas the Red Fang led a rebellion to instate a new authority in place of the Ilneval and the Jackal King after the pair led a contingent west and abandoned Neuphany entirely. The peaceful revolution was uncontested even centuries later when the Jackal King returned, who recognized the sovereignty of the region and did not have an opportunity to pose a credible threat or claim to Auberoth. Later attempts by Shargaas to invade its neighbor, White Harbor, were rebuffed, and the two provinces came to a permanent peace that has lasted five centuries. After their defeat during the War of the Dragons, the so-called "modern Auberoth" era began. Their imperial designs were halted prematurely as Phillip II signed a treaty with the regent of the Auber. The Convention of Il-Gorgoth is a list of rights that the House of Darcedon holds over Cascadia. These include their rights to declare war, maintain a standing army, and petition or amend the Convention. These rights are held in perpetuity until such time that the House of Darcedon either ceases to exist or breaks the laws of their Convention. Because the Auber worship Orcus, they are religiously obligated to uphold the Convention at the risk of being tortured for eternity. The Auber maintain a monopoly over silk, giving them a valuable resource of which they take full advantage. The secrets to silk manufacture remain hidden in their capitol, the only place in the Old World where silk is made. Culture Lifestyle The Auber of both Vostok Manda and Auberoth have a social strata similar to that of antiquity, in which a very large sedentary agrarian community supports its urban centers. Regional federations of independent farmers pool their resources and use it for bargaining with the imperial bureaucracy. The federations then receive allocations of tumbaga rings as currency. The cities, composed of merchants and craftsmen, trade with the farmers. Because of the nature of their imperial economy, the Auber are usually confined to their own social class with little mobility. These social classes (the gentry, the farmers, the craftsmen, and the merchants) are rigid and are specifically detailed in the laws of Vostok Manda. Gentry and imperial bureaucracy The empire of Vostok Manda and Auberoth adhere to strict imperial examinations as a method of determining merit. As a result, much of the higher classes are intellectual elite, and no titles are hereditary except for the Emperor. Nature of oaths Oaths are a sacred center of Auber culture, with the god Orcus being the punisher of broken oaths. Lies, betrayal, and abandoning civic duty are all punishable by death; in fact, most "broken oaths" are punished with excruciating torture regardless of the crime's severity. The only laws which receive distinct punishments are cheating in imperial examinations (death by a thousand cuts) and treason (drowning). Traditional styling of hair Since the time of the Jackal King, Auber have shaved their facial hair and refuse to cut the hair from their heads, tying it in a top knot as a symbol of liberation from their former masters. In contrast, enslaved Auber or those who are actively serving in the military must shave their heads as an expression of their commitment to service. An Auber's service is generally concluded when his hair regrows to a forearm's length. Auber outside of Vostok Manda and Auberoth also follow this tradition, at least in terms of refusing to cut the hair from their heads and only shaving their faces. It is only the most esteemed social classes and religious leaders who are permitted to grow their facial hair, and they must keep it neatly trimmed and styled. Government Central government In the Auberoth government, the emperor (hsang-dyi) is the supreme judge and lawgiver, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and sole designator of official nominees appointed to the top posts in central and local administrations. Theoretically, there are no limits to his power. However, state officials with competing interests and institutions such as the court conference pressured the emperor to accept the advice of his ministers on policy decisions. If the emperor rejects a court conference decision, he risked alienating his high ministers. Nevertheless, emperors sometimes do reject the majority opinion reached at court conferences. Today, the court conference holds its alliance with the House of Darcedon paramount to even its own sovereignty or economic success; the War of the Dragons pacified imperial ambitions to such a degree that Auberoth is considered a client state of Kasmir, and thus does not necessitate actions by the Pontifect. Below the emperor are his cabinet members known as the Three Councillors of State. These were the Chancellor Over The Peoples of Auber Heritage, the Imperial Counselor and Minister in the Excellency of Works, and Grand Commandant Over Martial Affairs. The Chancellor is chiefly responsible for drafting the government budget. The Chancellor's other duties include managing provincial registers for land and population, leading court conferences, acting as judge in lawsuits and recommending nominees for high office, such as governors. He could appoint officials below his own salary rank, and the emperor appointed officials above his own salary rank. The Imperial Counselor's chief duty is to conduct disciplinary procedures for officials. He once shared similar duties with the Chancellor, such as receiving annual provincial reports. However, when his title was changed to Imperial Counselor in CE 949, his chief duty became oversight of public works projects, such as alhambras and irrigation terraces. The Grand Commandant, whose title was changed from Grand Marshal in CE 954, is the posted commander of the military and, at times, regent or emperor dowager. He is now chiefly a civil official who shares many of the same censorial powers as the other two Councillors of State. Ranked below the Three Councillors of State are the Nine Ministers, who each head a specialized ministry. * The Minister of Ceremonies is the chief official in charge of religious rites, rituals, prayers and the maintenance of ancestral temples and altars to Orcus. * The Minister of the Household is in charge of the emperor's security within the palace grounds, external imperial parks and wherever the emperor makes an outing by chariot. * The Minister of the Guards is responsible for securing and patrolling the walls, towers, and gates of the imperial palaces. * The Minister Coachman is responsible for the maintenance of imperial stables, horses, carriages and coach-houses for the emperor and his palace attendants, as well as the supply of horses for the armed forces. * The Minister of Justice is the chief official in charge of upholding, administering, and interpreting the law. * The Minister Herald is the chief official in charge of receiving honored guests at the imperial court, such as nobles and foreign ambassadors, as well as acting as ambassador in matters relating to White Harbor. * The Minister of the Imperial Clan oversees the imperial court's interactions with the empire's nobility and extended imperial family, such as granting fiefs and titles, as well as granting titles to distinguished individuals. * The Minister of Finance is the treasurer for the official bureaucracy and the armed forces who handles tax revenues and set standards for units of measurement. * The Minister Steward serves the emperor exclusively, providing him with entertainment and amusements, proper food and clothing, medicine and physical care, valuables and equipment. Local government In Auberoth, excluding kingdoms and marquessates, is divided, in descending order of size, into political units of provinces, prefectures, and municipality. A municipality is divided into several districts, composed of a group of hamlets, each hamlet containing about ten families or one clan. The heads of provinces, whose official title changes from inspector to governor and vice versa from emperor to emperor, were responsible for inspecting several prefectures and kingdom-level administrations. On the basis of their reports, the officials in these local administrations can be promoted, demoted, dismissed or prosecuted by the imperial court. This often leads to false reporting and corruption, as was the case in the Bloody Winter. A governor can take various actions without permission from the imperial court. The lower-ranked inspector has executive powers only during times of crisis, such as raising militias across the prefectures under his jurisdiction to suppress a rebellion. A prefecture consisted of a group of counties, and was headed by a Prefect. He was the top civil and military leader of the prefecture and handles defense, lawsuits, seasonal instructions to farmers and recommendations of nominees for office sent annually to the capital in a quota system first established by Shargaas the Red Fang. The head of a clan, who reported to the Prefect, is called a Magistrate. A Magistrate maintains law and order in his municipality, registers the populace for taxation, mobilizes commoners for annual corvée duties, repairs schools and supervises public works. Kingdoms and marquessates Kingdoms—roughly the size of a prefecture— are ruled by "kings" (hua-di) are nominal heads of a state, gaining a personal income from only a portion of the taxes collected in their kingdom. They are typically male relatives of the emperor, and most kingdoms are sections of Laurea held in trust on behalf of the emperor in regions contested by Arcadian or Crotalusian tribes. Similarly, a marquess is an appointed official in Gelatia who holds in trust the marches between Gantelusia and Cascadia. A marquess's Chancellor was ranked as the equivalent of a Prefect. Like a king, the marquess collected a portion of the tax revenues in his fief as personal income. However, they often are given the title not for blood relation, but in lieu of other dignities such as marriage into the imperial clan. Military Every male aged twenty-three must adhere to a five-year conscription into the military. The minimum age for the military draft is twenty, and the maximum service is seven years. Conscripted soldiers undergo one year of training and one year of service as non-professional soldiers. The year of training is served in one of three branches of the armed forces: infantry, cavalry, or navy. The year of active service was served either on the frontier, in a king's court or under the Minister of the Guards in the capital. A small professional (paid) standing army was stationed near the capital, and occupies the greater length of the conscripted time. Conscription can be avoided if one pays a commutable tax. Most provinces also recruit a volunteer army, and such volunteers could waive their duties to Auberoth if they serve an equivalent time in the prefecture's professional army. For this to be commutable, they must enlist before their twentieth birthday in the prefecture's army. During times of war, the volunteer army is increased, and a much larger militia is raised across the country to supplement the imperial army. In these circumstances, a General leads a division, which is divided into regiments led by Colonels and sometimes Majors. Regiments are divided into companies and led by Captains. Platoons are the smallest units of soldiers, numbering on average fifty men. Science and technology Gunpowder warfare Advancements in weapons technology enhanced by gunpowder and the fire-arm, including the evolution of the flamethrower, explosive grenade, firearm, cannon, and land mine, enable Auberoth to ward off their militant enemies. The city of Il-Gorgoth produces one to two thousand strong iron-cased bomb shells a month. The fire-arm, a device invented by the Jackal King, is fully adopted by Auberoth and cannons are found ubiquitously throughout the nation. This gives Auberoth an inherent advantage over its neighbors, allowing it to maintain strict borders and maintain its own autonomy despite ambitions by Crotalusia, Arcadia, and at times Gantelusia. Measuring distance and mechanical navigation The Auber rely on a mechanical odometer to measure distance across the grand plateaus and canyons of Cascadia. The Auber odometer is a wheeled carriage, its gearwork being driven by the rotation of the carriage's wheels; specific units of distance are marked by the mechanical striking of a drum or bell as an auditory signal. The specifications for the Auber odometer were written by Chief Inspector Yargon Tulezyai, who is quoted extensively across multiple historical texts. The odometer vehicle is combined with another complex mechanical device known as the south-pointing chariot. This device, originally crafted by Beldoth under direction of Shargaas, incorporates a differential gear that allowed a figure mounted on the vehicle to always point in the southern direction, no matter how the vehicle's wheels turned about. Polymaths and inventions Astronomy Polymath figures such as the statesmen Kuograth (CE 677 - CE 718) and Sosong (CE 740 - CE 801) embodied advancements in all fields of study, including biology, botany, zoology, geology, mineralogy, mechanics, horology, astronomy, pharmaceutical medicine, archeology, mathematics, cartography, optics, art criticism, and more thanks to Auberoth ingenuity. Kuograth was the first to discern magnetic declination of true north while experimenting with a compass. Kuograth theorized that geographical climates gradually shifted over time. He created a theory of land formation still used to this day across the Old World. He performed optical experiments to determine exact bearing and distances to lands such as Jigoku, and drafted designs of astronomical instruments such as the widened astronomical sighting tube, which allowed him to accurately chart celestial bodies. Kuograth was also known for hydraulic clockworks, as he invented a new overflow-tank clepsydra which had more efficient higher-order interpolation instead of linear interpolation in calibrating the measure of time. Sosong was best known for his horology treatise written in CE 800, which described and illustrated in great detail his hydraulic-powered, 40-foot tall astronomical clock tower built in Kahlfang. The clock tower featured large astronomical instruments of the armillary sphere and celestial globe, both driven by an intermittently working escapement mechanism more advanced than any human clock to this day. Sosong's tower featured a rotating gear wheel with 133 clock jack mannequins who were timed to rotate past shuttered windows while ringing gongs and bells, banging drums, and presenting announcement plaques. In his only printed book, Sosong published a celestial atlas of five star charts. Movable type The innovation of movable type printing was made by the artisan Sharu-blaz Ongian (CE 711 - CE 789), first described by the scientist and statesman Kuograth in his first printed work Moonlight Essays. Sharu-blaz's original clay-fired typeface was passed on to one of Kuograth's nephews, and was carefully preserved. Movable type enhanced the already widespread use of woodblock methods of printing thousands of documents and volumes of written literature, consumed eagerly by an increasingly literate public. The advancement of printing deeply affected education and the scholar-official class, since more books could be made faster while mass-produced, printed books were cheaper in comparison to laborious handwritten copies. The enhancement of widespread printing and print culture was thus a direct catalyst in the rise of social mobility and expansion of the educated class of scholar elites, the latter which expanded dramatically and allowed for "true" meritocratic social classes. Mathematics There have been many notable improvements in mathematics since the founding of Auberoth. Euclidean geometry served as the basis for advanced trigonometry, and statesmen such as Yoiluer Blood-bather facilitated the invention of calculus. True number theory began in Auberoth in CE 891, when Rasnathuengen Targus developed proofs for many unproved theorems dating back to the time of Perepolis, enabling clockwork and highly efficient hydraulic engineering that rivals the ancient Perthic designs. Category:Civilizations